Lighting fixture



LIGHTING FIXTURE Filed March 50, 1955 2 Sheets-Shea t l I22 I36 I24WITNESSES: INVENTORS Y Edward L Beach 8 W L W Merle EKeazk ATTOR N EYSept. 18, 1956 Filed March 3Q, 1953 WITNESSES:

E- L. BEACH ET AL Fig.2.

INVENTORS Edward L. Beach 81 Merle E Keck Wm/Wm ATTORNEY Unite StatesPatent LIGHTING FHXTURE Edward L. Beach and Merle E. Keck, Cleveland,Ohio, assignors to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh,Pa, in corporation of Pennsylvania Application March 30, 1953, SerialNo. 345,396

8 Claims. (Cl. 240-52) Our invention relates to lighting fixtures whichare generally utilized for illuminating large outside areas.

Such fixtures are frequently mounted in relatively inaccessible placeswhere it is usually necessary that the fixture be positioned and alignedin a predetermined manner in order to achieve proper lighting of aparticular area. Fixtures which have been heretofore used for suchpurposes have been unsatisfactory in that considerable ditficulty hasbeen encountered both in servicing the fixture, including cleaning, thereplacement of parts, and in adjusting the alignment of the fixture.Qther fixtures which have been designed to overcome these ob jectionshave been proven to be unsatisfactory in that they required eitherextensive time and/ or use of special or large number of tools. Thisinvention contemplates a lighting fixture composed of a plurality ofseparate parts having a novel construction so that such fixtures may bereadily serviced without the use of any tools. Another part of thisinvention provides a novel form of construction for such a fixture sothat it may readily be serviced without affecting the alignment of thefixture. A fur ther part of this invention has to do with the provisionof a novel structure permitting such alignment to be altered with theuse of a simple standard wrench.

Accordingly one object of this invention is generally to provide a novellighting fixture which may readily be serviced without requiring anytools or skilled personnel for such servicing.

Another object of our invention is to provide a light-- ing fixture ofthe type, whereby a beam of light is produced, that may readily beadjusted to vary the direction of the light beam by known increments.

Another object of our invention is to provide a lighting fixture whichmay be released manually from its support and be returned to its initialposition when the fixture will automatically be positioned withoutaltering the relative position of the fixture and the support.

A more specific object of our invention is to provide a lighting fixturehaving a support and a lamp holder member rotatably mounted in suchsupport and a manually releasable spring to secure said support and lampholder means in a definite relationship and which will automaticallyafter release secure such support and lamp holder means in the samerelative relationship.

Another more specific object of our invention is to provide a lightingfixture having a support, a lamp holder portion and a disc forindicating the relative position of said support and lamp holder, suchdisc being manually releasable to alter such relative position.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a novel lightingfixture having a support and a lamp holder member rotatably mounted insuch support, and a manually releasable spring to secure such supportand lamp holder in a definite relationship which will automatically uponreengagement after release realign the support and lamp holder in thesame relationship and having a disc for indicating such relationshipwhich is manually rereleasable to alter such relationship.

ice

These and other objects of this invention will become more apparent uponconsideration of the following detailed description of a preferredembodiment thereof when taken in connection with the attached drawingsin which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a lighting fixture constructed inaccordance with this invention with parts of the fixture being brokenaway and shown in section; and,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion of the lightingfixture shown in Fig. 1 taken substantially along the line II-II of Fig.l.

The illustrative embodiment of the invention shown on the drawingscomprises a lighting fixture having a housing socket assembly 2, areflector assembly 11} and a door 6 which are all capable of beingreleasably assembled together in a manner to provide a sealedweathertight enclosure. The housing socket assembly 2 comprises a sockethousing casting S which is generally cupshaped in form, having an openend joined to the reflector '7 proper. The reflector 7 is formed of asingle piece of material capable of having a reflecting surface formedthereon, such as for example aluminum or an alloy thereof, and isgenerally flared outwardly in section and F is joined to the sockethousing 8 at the inner end of the reflector at one side. The doorassembly 6 includes a transparent material 96, such as glass or thelike.

i The open end of the socket housing 3 is formed with a flange it whichis offset outwardly to provide a shoulder 12 between the flange and theside wall of the socket housing 8 which is adapted to support interiorlythereof lamp holding means, illustratively shown in this embodiment ofthe invention as comprising a screw type of lamp socket 28, which issecured to the bottom wall of the socket housing 8, as for example byscrews 30. The lamp socket 23 has its own terminal screws 32 to whichelectrical supply conductors 34 and 36 may be secured. The supplyconductors 34 and 36 preferably emanate from a cable having a sheath 38of flexible waterproof material, such as lead or a non-metallicwaterproof material, and the cable enters the socket housing 8 through aside opening 40 in the socket housing 2 having an inner shoulder 42. Inorder to seal the point of entrance of the cable into socket housing 3,there is provided a threaded bushing 44 adapted to receive the cable andbe threaded into the opening 4i) in the socket housing 8, there beingcompressible packing material 45 interposed between the bushing 44 andthe shoulder 42 such, for example, as a packing material having a rubberor asbestos base, so that when the bushing is tightened the material 45will be deformed into intimate engagement with the socket housing 8 andthe cable sheath 33 to seal the opening in the socket housing 8.

A light source 46 is shown as being supported by the lamp socket 23, andcomprises in the illustrative embodiment of the invention, anincandescent lamp. In this regard, however, it is desired to point outthat the invention is not limited to this type of light source or to theparticular type of lamp socket illustrated, as the invention is equallyapplicable to other types of lamps and lamp supports. It will be notedthat the lamp 46 extends into the reflector assembly 4, and particularlythat the latter may be provided with a generally hemispherical inner endportion 4-8 into which the lamp extends from an opening at the inner endof the reflector assembly 4 but at one side thereof.

The reflector assembly 4 and socket housing 8 are secured together atthe opening through which the lamp extends into the reflector assembly4. For this purpose the reflector 7 has an opening corresponding to theopening in the reflector housing 8, which is defined by an outwardlyextending flange 50 which terminates in an in wardly extending lip 52.Lip 52 defines the opening 54 in the reflector which is adapted to alignwith the opening in the reflector housing 8 when the reflector andhousing are secured together.

The securing means employed for the socket housing 8 and reflectorassembly 4 comprises a generally U-shaped leaf spring hinge member 56,having one end secured to the flange of the socket housing 8, as byscrews 58, and having the other end formed into a hook 60, for receivinga pivot pin 62 supported on a bracket 64. The pivot pin supportingbracket 64 is provided with spaced arms which are spanned by the pivotpin 62, and the bracket is secured to the reflector 7 by having its basesecured to the outer surface of the reflector 7, for example as byrivets 66. The spring hinge member 56 is formed of any suitableresilient material, such for example as stainless steel.

At a point opposite the spring hinge relative to the juncture of thesocket housing 8 and the reflector assembly 4, there is provided anangled supporting bracket 68, one leg of which is secured to thereflector 7 substantially at the innermost end thereof, as by rivets 80.The other leg of the angled bracket 68 projects outwardly for supportingan angled manually operable toggle member 82, as by a pivot pin 84. Thetoggle lever 82 is in turn pivotally connected at an intermediate point,as by a pivot pin 86, with one end of a leaf spring toggle clampinglever 88, the other end of which has a nose 90 for engagement with theoutside of shoulder 12 on the socket housing 8. If desired, the nose 90of the toggle clamping lever 88 may be covered with a suitable resilientshielding material, such as rubber or the like, to prevent damage to theouter surface of the socket housing at the point of engagementtherewith. It will be noted that a gasket 91 is preferably interposedbetween the shoulder 12 of the socket housing 8, and the lip 52 aroundthe opening in the reflector assembly 4, and the purpose of the hingespring 56 and spring clamping lever 88 is to maintain these parts of thesocket housing 8 and the reflector assembly 4 under spring pressureexerted on the gasket 91 interposed between them to provide aweathertight sealed joint. The gasket 91 may be made of any desiredcompressible sealing material, such as a rubber or asbestos composition.The particular mode of removing and securing the reflector assembly 4 tosocket housing 8 forms no part of this invention and it is moreparticularly described and claimed in the copending application ofJoseph William Steiner and Edward L. Beach on a Lighting Fixture (SerialNo. 345,525) filed concurrently herewith (March 30, 1953) and assignedto the same assignee of this invention. Accordingly for a more completedescription of such features reference is hereby made to the abovementioned copending application.

The outer end of the reflector assembly 4 is formed to engage the door6, by having a recessed shoulder 92 formed integrally with the reflector7 and extending outwardly therefrom to terminate in a flange 94. Thedoor 6, as previously stated, is formed of a transparent material 96,such as glass or the like, and is especially adapted for assembly withthe reflector 7 without the use of any frame for the transparentmaterial. Thus, the door is provided with an integral peripheral flange98 adapted to engage a gasket 99 which is, in turn, adapted to seat inthe recess of the reflector shoulder 92, to seal the joint between thereflector 7 and door 6. The gasket 99 may be formed of any suitablecompressible material similar to the gasket 91 referred to above.

In order to secure the door 6 in pressure engagement with the gasket 99,there is provided a plurality of clamps substantially equally spacedabout the periphery of the door which are generally similar to thereleasable spring clamp 82, 88 employed for securing the reflectorassembly 4 to the socket housing 8. The specific form of clampillustrated here is adapted to be mounted by means of a bracket 100which is secured to the reflector 7, as

by rivets 102, and has an outwardly projecting arm for pivotallysupporting a manually operable toggle lever 104, as by a pivot pin 106.The manually operable toggle lever 104 is pivoted at an intermediatepoint, as by a pivot pin 108, to one end of a leaf spring toggle clamp110 which is bowed in form, and like the spring toggle lever 88, isformed of any desired spring material, such as a stainless steel. Theouter end of the spring toggle member 110 is provided with a nose 112for engaging the outer surface of door flange 98 and it preferably iscovered by a resilient gasket material 113, such as rubber or the like.An integral rib 114 is provided on the outer side of the door along theperiphery of the door flange 98, and may have inwardly extendingintegral ribs (not shown) at each end of the outer rib 114, with thenose 112 of each of the spring clamping levers adapted to engage thedoor flange 98 within the confines of integral door rib 114.

The door 96 may also be removably hinged to the reflector 4, by a hingearrangement illustratively shown in the preferred embodiment of theposition as being located at the top of the lighting fixture. The hingecomprises an angular hinge bracket 118 having one portion secured to theupper side of the deflector 7, as by rivets 120, and having its outerend angularly bent over the recessed shoulder 92 of the reflector, andthen bent outwardly and reduced in width, to form a hingle tongueportion 122. If desired, the outer edge of the hinge portion 122 may beprovided with a notch 116 in order to provide a sight by means of whichthe lighting fixture may be aimed and adjusted when mounted ashereinafter described. The door 96 is provided with a hinge clip 124formed of a resilient material, such as stainless steel strip, which isbent back upon itself at the outer end, and riveted together as at 125,whereupon the ends of the strip are separated to form one leg 128 forengaging the Y inner side of the adjacent edge of the door 96, and

another leg 126 formed to engage the outer surface at the outer edge ofdoor 96. Preferably, a compressible sheet material 130, such as rubberor the like, is interposed between the material of door 96 and the hingeclip 124 to prevent damage to the transparent material of the door, andintegral ribs like ribs 114 are formed on the door at a position toreceive the hingle clip 124, with the outer leg 126 of the clip beingbent at 132 to conform to the shape of the rib and thus preventwithdrawal of the hinge clip. Also, in order that the innerleg 128 ofthe door hinge clip does not project outwardly of the inner surface ofthe door, and particularly the door flange 98, the latter is preferablygrooved (not shown) for receiving the inner leg 128 of the hinge clip,so that it will lie flush with the inner surface of the door flange 98.The outer end of the door hinge clip 124 is angularly bent and has apivot opening 136 for receiving the hinge tongue 122 of the hingebracket 118. If desired, a flexible chain 138 or the like may beprovided joining the parts of the lighting fixture which are releas-'ably connected together, for the purpose of preventing accidentaldropping of the parts when they have been released from clampingengagement.

The particular manner whereby the door 6 may readily be removed forservicing forms no part of this invention and it is more particularlydescribed in and claimed in the previously identified copendingapplication of Joseph William Steiner and Edward L. Beach on theLighting Fixture. Accordingly for a more complete description of suchfeatures, reference is hereby made to the above mentioned copendingapplication.

The entire lighting fixture heretofore described is adapted to besupported at the socket housing 8 by any suitable mechanical means suchas a U-shaped steel supporting bracket 14 having a bight portion 15 andextending arms 17 (only one of which is shown). Bight portion 15 ofbracket 14 is provided with a hole 20 through which bolt assembly 19extends as well as through an opening in a stationary mounting bracket21 which, in turn, may be secured to a desired support by any suitablemechanical means inserted through mounting hole 23 and radial slots notshown.

As more clearly shown in Fig. 2, socket housing 8 is provided withintegral bosses 22 at each side having diametrically opposed tappedholes 25 therein which are threadedly engaged by special pivot bolts 16(only one of which is shown) extending through opposed holes 27 in arms17. In order to insure that socket housing 8 may be freely rotatedwithin bracket 14, bolts 16 have a smooth shank portion 33 and areprovided with a peripheral groove 29 whereby a shoulder 31 is formedupon the shank portion 33 which engages the outer surface 35 of boss 22.Thus the distance between the outer surface 35 of boss 22 and the bottomof the head 37 of bolt 16 is fixed by such engagement. If desired, aWasher 3 formed from any suitable material, such as brass, may beinserted between the head 37 of bolt 16 and the outer surface of arms 17to prevent head 37 from scoring arms 17.

As also shown in Fig. 2, at least one of the bolts 16 may be providedwith a longer shank portion than the other in order that an indicatordisc 18 may be rotatably positioned upon shank portion 33 of bolt 16between the inner surface of arm 17 and boss 22 of socket housing 8.Indicator disc 18 may be fabricated from any suitable material such asstainless steel and is preferably circular in form and is provided withan arcuate slot 39 through which a bolt 41 extends and threadedlyengages a threaded hole 43 in boss 22 of socket housing 8, whereby disc18 may be securedly positioned with reference to socket housing 8 at aplurality of different angular positions. If desired, a washer of anysuitable material, such as brass, may be positioned between the head ofbolt 41 and arm 17 to prevent scoring of the arm 17 by the bolt head.Disc 18 is provided with a suitable radial scale 47 upon its outerperiphery which may, as shown in Fig. 1, be a scale having a zeroreference point in its center and degree marks extending outwardly fromeach side of the zero reference point. In order that the relativeposition of disc 13 may be varied in known increments with reference tosocket housing 8, the socket housing 8 is provided with a stationaryreference point 49 which may be, as shown in Fig. I, an integral part ofthe socket housing 8. The relative position of disc 18 with reference tosocket housing 3 may be varied by backing bolt 41 off using only astandard wrench, rotating disc 18 around pivot bolt 16 in incrementsmeasured by scale 47 and retightening bolt il. The rotation of disc 18is limited, however, by the length of slot 39 due to the engagement ofthe ends of slot 39 with bolt 41.

The entire lighting fixture heretofore described is adapted to besupported in a fixed relationship with ref erence to bracket 14 bysuitable latching means engaging disc 18. In the embodiment of ourinvention shown in the drawings, the latching means comprises a singleleaf spring 53 which is formed from any suitable resilient material,such as spring steel, secured at its one end to the outer surface of arm17 by any suitable means, such as machine screws 26. Leaf spring 53 isspecially formed by being folded back upon itself at an intermediateportion to form a rider portion 55 which protrudes through an opening.37 in arm 17. Disc 18 is provided with at least one opening 51 which,when disc 18 is rotated, may be aligned with opening 57 in arm 17thereby, due to the spring action of the spring portion 61 of leafspring 53, forcing the rider portion 55 of spring 53 to extend throughopening 51 in disc 18. Further rotational movement between the bracket14 and the socket housing 8 is prevented by the engagement of riderportion 55 of spring 33 with the sides of opening 51 in disc 18. Theouter portion 63 of leaf spring 53 is inactive with regard to springaction and may be formed in any suitable man ner to provide an; endgrip, whereby rider portion 55 may. be manually withdrawn fromlatchopening 51 in disc 18; If desired, a spacer or striking bar 65 may beprovided between outer portion 63 of spring 53 and the outer surface ofarms 17 to insure that outer portion 63 will at all times be spacedabove the outer surface of arm 17 whereby it may be readily grasped byhand.

If desired, a stop lug 67 may be formed integral with disc 18 to preventthe lighting fixture from being rotated beyond a certain point in aclockwise direction (as viewed in Fig. 1). Stop lug 67 extends outwardlyfrom disc 18 and may be formed by punching a portion of disc 18 outwardso that when the fixture is rotated clockwise its movement is limited bythe engagement of the stop lug 67 with the lower edge 69 of arm 17. Thusin the event the lighting fixture should accidentally slip when beingserviced its clockwise travel would be limited by such engagement andthe shock of stopping such rotation will be borne by bracket 14 andhousing member 8 rather than either the flexible cable 38 or the backportion of the reflector proper 7. If desired, more than one latchopening 51 could be provided in disc 18 in order to secure the lightingfixture in various fixed relationships with reference to bracket 14.

The advantages of servicing and aligning a lighting fixture constructedaccording to the principles of our in vention are believed to beobvious. Primarily it will be noted that if the lighting fixture issecured and positioned as shown in Fig. 1, it may easily be cleaned orthe lamp 46 replaced by lifting leaf spring 53 out of the latch opening51 in disc 18 and rotating the fixture in a counterclockwise direction.Such counterclockwise rotation may be to any convenient point and islimited only by either the length of supply conductors 34 and 36 or byengagement of the head of bolt 41 with the upper surface of arms 17 ofbracket 14. Once the requisite servicing has been accomplished, thefixture may be rotated clockwise, whereby the rider portion 55 of spring35 will ride upon the outer surface of disc 1% until latch opening 51 indisc 18 is aligned with opening 57 in arm 17 at which time spring 53will by its spring action enter opening 51 to prevent any furtherrotation of the lighting fixture; all without the use of tools. It isequally obvious that should it be desired to alter the relativepositioning of the socket housing 8 with reference to support 14, thebolt 41 may be loosened and disc 18 rotated in a manner heretoforeindicated whereby such adjustment will be accomplished;

A particular advantage of a. lighting fixture constructed in accordancewith this invention resides in the fact that the fixture may beinitially adjusted at a predetermined angle at the time when it isinstalled with the adjusting plate rotated until its stop lug engagesthe underside of the adjacent supporting arm, and thereafter the lightcan be moved for servicing by means of the releasable latch. Followingservicing the fixture is simply rotated back toward its initial positionand is always automatically locked at the same predetermined initialposition, without further adjustment.

Having disclosed a preferred embodiment of the invention in accordancewith the patent statutes it is desired to point out that the above ismerely illustrative of the invention and cannot be properly consideredas limiting the invention to the specific details thereof. Thus theparticular method of securing the indicator disc to the socket housingor the number and type of latches used to position the fixture withreference to the support may be varied from those specifically disclosedherein without departing from the essential features of, our invention.Various other changes may also be made without departing from the truespirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is desired that theinvention be interpreted as broadly as possible and that it be limitedonly as required by the prior art.

We claim as our invention:

1. A lighting fixture comprising a support member having at least twoextending arms, lamp holding means rotatably mounted around a fixed axison said support between said arms, a releasable securing means movablymounted on one of said arms comprising a fiat leaf spring having anintegral protrusion extending through an opening in said one arm andnormally biased toward said lamp holding means, a disc having a notchtherein adjustably secured to said lamp holding means, said protrusionand said notch being displaced the same radial distance from said axisso that said protrusion automatically engages said notch on said discwhen said protrusion and said disc are in a predetermined relativeposition, whereby said lamp holding means is releasably held in a fixedpredetermined position with relation to said support.

2. A lighting fixture comprising a support lamp holding means rotatablymounted about a fixed axis on said support, indicating means rotatableabout said axis, means for securing said indicating means to said lampholding means in one of a plurality of angular positions with referenceto said lamp holding means, securing means mounted on said support formaintaining said lamp holding means and said support in a fixedpredetermined position, said last mentioned securing means comprising aspring biased means radially displaced from said axis a portion of whichis movable substantially parallel to said axis so as to be engageablewith an aperture in said indicating means in a fixed predeterminedrelationship upon rotation of said lamp holding means.

3. A lighting fixture comprising a support having an opening, lampholding means positioned in said opening rotatably mounted on saidsupport about a fixed axis, a circular disc rotatable about said axishaving a notch therein, a first securing means for releasably securingsaid disc to said lamp holding means, a second securing means comprisinga fiat leaf spring having an integral projection biased to enter saidnotch and being movably mounted on said support member for maintainingsaid disc and said support in a fixed predetermined position when saidlamp holding means is rotated in one direction,

said second securing means being releasable to permit rotation of saiddisc, said first securing means being releasable for securing said discand said lamp holding means in any one of a plurality of angularrelationships, and means integral with said disc comprising an outward-1y extending tab engageable with one side of said support atsubstantially the same instant said projection enters said notch foradditionally preventing rotation in said one direction.

4. A lighting fixture comprising a support member having at least twoextending arms, lamp holding means rotatably mounted around a fixed axison said support between said arms, a releasable first securing meansmovably mounted on one of said arms comprising a fiat leaf spring havingan integral protrusion extending through an opening in said one arm andnormally biased toward said lamp holding means, a disc rotatably mountedabout said axis located between said one arm and said lamp holding meansand having a notch therein, a second securing means for releasablysecuring said disc to said lamp holding means, said protusion and saidnotch being radially displaced the same distance from said axis so thatsaid protrusion automatically engages said notch in said disc formaintaining said lamp holding means and said support in a fixedpredetermined relationship, said first securing means being manuallyreleasable to permit rotation of said lamp holding means, and saidsecond securing means being located within an arcuate slot in said discand releasable to permit said disc to be secured in different the,positions relative to said lamp holding means.

5. A lighting fixture comprising a support member, a lamp holder memberpivotally secured to said support member about an axis, an adjustableelement having a notch therein, a securing means for securing saidadjustable element to one of the members, said securing means beingreleasable to vary the relative position of said adjustable element andsaid one member, releasable securing means located upon the other membercomprising spring biased means radially displaced from said axis andhaving a portion thereof movable substantially parallel to said axis soas to be engageable with said notch, whereby the relative positions ofsaid members are fixed when said one member is rotated in one directionto a predetermined point, and means integral with said adjustableelement positioned to be engageable with said other member when saidlatching means engages said notch for additionally preventing furtherrotation in said one direction.

6. A lighting fixture comprising, a support, lamp holding meanspivotally mounted on said support on a given axis, indicating meansrotatably mounted on said support, means for selectively securing saidindicating means to said lamp holding means at any of a plurality ofrelative angular positions, resilient latching means mounted on saidsupport having a part thereof biased to engage said indicating means,and one portion of said indicating means being formed to be engaged bysaid part of said latching means upon rotation of said lamp holdingmeans to automatically lock the lamp holding means at an angularposition relative to said support predetermined by the relative angularposition at which said indicating means is secured.

7. A lighting fixture comprising a support, lamp holding means pivotallysecured to said support about an axis, indicating means rotatable aboutsaid axis releasably secured to said lamp holding means in one of aplurality of angular positions with reference to said lamp holdingmeans, an opening in said indicating means, resilient latching meanssecured to said support having a movable portion normally biased towardsaid indicating means, said opening in said indicating means and saidmovable portion of said latching means being displaced radiallyoutwardly from said axis substantially the same distance, and saidmovable portion of said latching means being of a length toautomatically engage said opening when said lamp holding means isrotated to a predetermined position to prevent further rotationalmovement of said lamp holding means.

8. A lighting fixture comprising, a support member, a lamp holdingmember pivotally mounted on said support member on a given axis,adjustable indicating means, securing means for securing said indicatingmeans to one of the members at any of a plurality of relative positionswith respect to the other of said members, resilient latching meansmounted on the other of said members having a part thereof biased toengage said indicating means, and one portion of said indicating meansbeing formed to be engaged by said part of said latching means uponrotation of said lamp holding member to automatically lock the lampholding member at an angular position relative to said support memberpredetermined by the relative angular position at which said indicatingmeans is secured.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,915,967 Bailey June 27, 1933 2,166,394 Crossley July 18, 19392,618,285 Heisig Nov. 18, 1952

